


Making Friends

by the_chaotic_lesbian (orphan_account)



Series: Prince Mike, and his three boyfriends [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Royalty, First Meetings, Fluff, Friendship, M/M, Mike-Centric, Pre-Relationship, Prince Mike, Self-Indulgent, Servant Will, advisor Dustin, guard Lucas, literally nobody is gonna read this but that's okay, this is for JESS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 06:58:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21352120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/the_chaotic_lesbian
Summary: Prince Michael Wheeler - Mike, he insists, it's Mike - has the world at his fingertips. Well, his kingdom, at least. Except he doesn't really want to be a prince at all. His friends are proof of that.Or, how Prince Mike meets his three best friends, one by one.
Relationships: Dustin Henderson & Mike Wheeler, Lucas Sinclair & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Dustin Henderson & Lucas Sinclair & Mike Wheeler, Will Byers & Mike Wheeler
Series: Prince Mike, and his three boyfriends [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1539310
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	Making Friends

**Author's Note:**

> This is... the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written. I hope y'all enjoy, because there is much more to come in this AU.

Mike is seven when he first meets Dustin. 

Being a prince means nothing to him at this age. He knows he is, because he lives in a huge gigantic castle! And his parents sometimes use the title to scold him when he’s misbehaving, but other than that, he’s just… a carefree kid, running around the halls, apologizing to the maids when he bumps into them. 

He’s a restless kid, always moving, always fidgeting, which is why when his parents drag him into the throne room, hands clamped on his shoulders to keep him pinned to the floor, he’s annoyed, anxious. 

There’s a noble woman who enters the room, clad in robes, gently steering another boy in. Mike gets excited, because the closest person to his age he’s ever played with is Nancy, and she doesn’t  count,  and that boy must be a playmate! 

“Goodbye Dusty,” the woman moans, and Mike watches as the boy - Dusty? - swats her off of him to give the royal family a reserved smile. 

“This is Dustin,” he is more formally introduced a couple minutes later, when his mom steps away to kindly extend a hand to Dustin and bring him closer. “He’s going to be your advisor.” 

Mike is seven, he doesn’t know what the word advisor means, but he grins at Dustin anyways, bouncing on his feet. They’re going to have so much fun together, he thinks. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mike hates his lessons. This is fact, at this point. He hates the tutors, hates sitting still, can’t concentrate on anything he’s being taught because he’s too restless. It isn’t necessarily the subject material - although that certainly doesn’t help, he thinks, with how boring it is - he just cannot sit still to save his life. It’s quite annoying. 

He’s eleven the first time he actually thinks about doing anything. Eleven, and he’s already  stolen  borrowed a loose-fitting servant’s uniform, nabbed it straight out of the servants quarters the one time his father punished him by forcing him to spend the day there. (It hadn’t been much of a punishment, but Mike was never going to tell him that). Eleven, and bored, and tired, and the itch to go out and see the world is so strong. 

The decision to actually do something about it is impulsive, and definitely wouldn’t have happened without Dustin’s accidental help. 

Dustin, too, was supposed to be in lessons, but he had accompanied Mike to his - the two boys laughing and joking the entire time - where he then struck up a friendly conversation with the tutor. They’re talking about… some history stuff Mike should know but doesn’t, and he seizes the opportunity to slowly back away and then bolt. 

Changing into the uniform is easy. Getting out of the palace? Not as much. Everyone in the castle knows what he looks like, and he thinks he’s probably still recognizable even in a different outfit. Granted, that isn’t going to stop him from trying. 

He gets lucky, though, as he's sneaking through the halls, because he happens to run into one of the new servants - one that he's never met before. 

It's a boy his age, with straight brown hair messily framing his face, the uniform hanging off his thin frame. He's so obviously new, anxiety radiates off him in waves. 

An ingenious plan forms in Mike's head. 

"Hey, you!" He says, stepping in front of the boy, "you must be new here, aren't you?" 

The boy looks at him with wide hazel eyes, nods. There's no recognition in those eyes. 

Mike smiles. 

"Alright, well, come with me," he hastily thinks, words spilling faster than he can think of, "Princess Nancy is craving more of her favorite tea, so she's asked me to go get some for her, and since you're new, you gotta know where to get it before she asks. She can be very cranky." 

"Oh, uh…" and he looks so nervous still, "y-yeah, that sounds good. Thank you." 

"Well of course!" Mike slings an arm around the other's shoulder, grateful that he carried a spare pouch of coins with him at all times for emergencies. He guides the smaller boy through the halls, frantic anxiety disguised as helpful kindness. 

"What's your name, anyways, new kid?" He asks, once they slip through the servants exit. Mike is still nervous about being caught, but they've made it this far! 

"It's Will," he says, soft and kind and almost innocent. "What's yours?" 

"Oh, it's Mi-" Mike pauses. Everyone knows his name, he can't use it, "-son. Mison. Yeah." 

Will doesn't even blink at how bad the name is. He's so innocently naive, Mike wonders how he got a job in the palace. "Nice to meet you." And then he smiles and it's so  cute  and friendly that Mike can't help but grin along. 

"You too," and then they're out of the palace, going down into the town, and the fresh air feels so nice. "Now let's hurry! Princess Nancy isn't getting any nicer!" 

-

The city is so nice. It's huge! Even bigger than the palace. And Will knows it pretty well, once they buy the tea(which takes embarrassingly long and earns Mike more than one weird look) they wander around, exploring the stalls. 

Mike has the urge to spend his coins on everything Will sees, because… well, he's generous, and it feels like the right thing to do. However, he's playing the role of a  servant  and if servants spent all the money they're allotted for a small shopping trip on pointless items they'd be punished. No encouraging this new kid to be punished! 

It's still so nice to be out, and Mike is actually sad when they have to go back in. Sneaking in the palace is relatively easy though - at least, until they run almost smack dab into Dustin. 

Oh no. 

"What's going on here?" Dustin demands, his hair wildly disheveled - like he's been running hands through it - eyes wide and accusing. He turns to Will, who just looks mildly confused. "What did you do?" 

Mike tries to make eye contact with Dustin, tries to shake his head no, but his advisor is not looking at him in the slightest. 

"We, we went out to get Princess Nancy her tea…" Will sounds so hesitant, and he's so new, and then Mike is wrapping an arm around his shoulders again. "That's right," he affirms, glaring daggers at Dustin, "perfectly allowed." 

Dustin is still looking at them incredulously, "... Oh my God you  didn't. " 

And Will's even more confused, and Dustin looks murderous and Mike sighs. There's no fixing this now, he thinks. 

"It's not his fault, okay?" He tells Dustin, comfortingly rubbing Will's shoulder when the servant glances at him, "he has no idea." 

"What do you  mean,  he has no idea- is he new?" And then Dustin has a more sympathetic look towards poor Will, as he sighs and rubs at his temples. "Oh my  god , Mike." 

"Mike?" And Will's still looking up at him, brows furrowed, "I thought your name was…  oh my God."  He jumps backwards like he touched hot coals, scrambling back with a wide-eyed look. 

"Your Highness," he starts, hands brushing at his uniform and cheeks flushing red and gosh Mike hates it so much, "I'm so, so sorry-" 

"-don't be sorry!" Mike quickly says, giving Dustin another glare even as he steps forward. Will flinches into a stiff bow, trembling. Yeah, Mike’s  so  gonna kill Dustin for this later. “It’s my fault, really. Don’t be so scared.” He laughs anxiously, running a hand through his hair. 

“Today was fun,” he says, still trying to calm Will’s nerves, “and please don’t call me your highness, that’s weird, we’re friends, right? You can just call me Mike.” 

“But, but I’m a servant,” Will protests, “I could’ve gotten into so much trouble-” 

“Don’t you worry about it.” And that’s a promise. Mike never breaks his promises. “I’ll make sure you never get punished. And so will Dustin.  Right Dustin?”  He gives Dustin his best murderous glare. 

Dustin swallows, nods, “right.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unofficially, Mike first meets Lucas by run ning into him. Literally. 

“Watch where you’re going!” Lucas snaps, because he’s a guard(in training) and he was almost bowled over and shouldn’t the prince not be so… so rowdy? 

“Sorry!” Prince Michael says, panting, and then he’s running off again. 

Lucas sighs and gets back in position. He forgets the encounter immediately. 

Officially, they meet in almost the same way. 

They’re fourteen, both of them. Lucas has spent his entire life in the palace, running around the kitchens and watching his father train the other guards. Being a guard is only natural, and as such he’s seen Prince Michael and Princess Nancy and all the other staff members. He sees them so often, he thinks he knows them. Decently, at least. 

Clearly not, because here’s Prince Michael, dressed in servants rags, arm around another servant’s waist. Both of them look flustered, and if it were any of his business, he’d assume… well. They’re only fourteen, he shouldn’t make such assumptions about his prince. 

“Prince Michael,” he says stiffly, because this is his first real post, and he’s not about to let it get ruined by the  prince  of all people, “what are you doing out here without an-” he glances at the brunette servant boy, “-escort?” 

Prince Michael looks down at the servant, glances behind them, and then  grins. 

“I have an escort!” He proclaims, and then he’s darting forwards, releasing the servant, and grabbing Lucas’s own hand. Lucas hardly has time to release a muffled protest before the prince is dragging him forwards in a sprint. 

“What are you doing?!” He finally chokes out, when they stop in the village square. Prince Michael is panting, out of breath like he never runs ( he doesn’t ) and behind them, the servant boy is also huffing. It’s a miracle he managed to drag Lucas this far, honestly. 

Prince Michael grins again, even while taking deep breaths, “it’s like… you said. Needed an escort.” 

Lucas shoots him a look, “I’m a  guard,  not an escort. I could lose my position for this!” 

“But you’re protecting me,” Prince Michael points out, and then he casually slings his arm around the servant boy, “me and Will here. If anybody asks, I’ll say I ordered you. You can’t disobey a direct order from me.” He winks. 

It’s true, as much as Lucas hates it. 

“...okay fine. But only because I can’t willingly let you get into trouble, Prince Michael.”

The prince frowns at this, “please, just call me Mike. Not Michael.” 

That sounds  weird,  but… well, Lucas has been trained to take orders from his prince. Unfortunately. 

(He ends up really enjoying the outing, though. It turns out, Mike isn’t as stuck-up as he appears to be in court - he actually has a personality, how shocking - and the servant - Will - is shy and quiet but can be absolutely savage when he wants to be.)

(Little do they all know it, it’s the start of a great - and lasting - friendship.)

(and maybe… just maybe…) 

(something more).

  
  
  



End file.
